We’re unlikely to see a third faction in Ingress despite New Wave rumours

There have been rumours of a third faction being added to Niantic’s Ingress since the beginning of the game. The rumours are back again thanks to Niantic actually talking about a third faction and the Via Lux plot appearing to introduce a group known as the New Wave.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever see a third Faction, that’s probably a good thing, and this article will explore why.

The early rumours of a new faction – the red team – were a joke that morphed into a rumour. In Ingress when a Enlightened (green) or Resistance (blue) portal falls to XMP burster fire it flares red for a second or two before becoming grey again. This effect gave rise to the idea of keeping the portal red. A joke. In reality the colour red is already used in the game, to show the portal dying, and because of that we’re as likely to see Niantic pick red for a new team colour. They’re equally unlikely to pick grey.

The rumour mill picked up again after the Tokyo anomaly when 4Gamer interviewed Niantic and the Google Translate into English came back talking about a new faction and extra activity for level 16 (game cap) agents to do. The translation was poor.

4Gamer: it is reliable …. Speaking of Ingress, which is two forces vying game the current Resistance and Enlightened, do you have any plans to faction is added?

Kawashima said: I this is also’m theme that you are much continued discussion, I implement a third faction, promise that is difficult at the moment. In the early stages of planning, the invaders and although I was an American setups where …… and have a person to compete with it, there is justice in the course either faction. It either currently in is becoming the story not be thought of as a good / evil. Third force will be happens to do …… care about myself very After intervention here.

4Gamer: When the third forces to war, but confrontation color of the two will be slightly thinner, it is going story becomes considerably more complex.

Kawashima said: Pokemon I think there are three camps (red / blue / yellow) from the beginning in the GO. And get a look at here what game development would happen, something tips you might find

Not easy to understand at all.

A native Japanese speaker helped Geek Native with a summary of the piece instead.

Niantic said that Ingress is already in full swing so it is hard to introduce a third team. Pokémon go started with three teams. He said they may be able to learn how to introduce a third team to ingress but don’t hold your breath he also said they are working on post level 16 stuff but no clues on what

That makes more sense.

Adding a third team would either mean opening it so new players had three choices of faction rather than two. That would put the new faction at a great disadvantage.

The alternative would be to offer players already deep in the game the chance to switch factions. This might have been interesting but it also would have ripped up the vital communities and comms Ingress agents have built around the game. Niantic doesn’t organize satellite anomalies – they announce them – it is the twin communities of Enlightened and Resistance players who organize the gathering, the after parties and so forth. Harming these communities would have been very dangerous for Niantic to consider.

It’s harder to speculate on the ‘New Wave’ elements being mentioned in the current plot. The Resistance New Wave seem to be going cyborg – following that branch of the faction who want to force mankind to get the AI upgrade. The Enlightened New Wave are more mysterious for now but have options like biological changes or mystical changes to follow.

Previously, I had suggested that sub-factions could be introduced to the game. This would prevent players having to move out of either the Resistance or Enlightened communities but would allow for politics and missions from within. It’s possible that the New Wave is the start of something along those lines, I hope so, but my gut feeling is they’re a plot point that won’t impact gameplay in any lasting way.

What do you think? What’s are the New Wave groups emerging from the current factions and do you think Ingress should get a third faction?